There wasn’t an empty seat at Tuesday’s Town Council Budget Overview Meeting. In fact, a live feed was provided in the room below for anyone and everyone who found themselves sitting on the floor or standing against the walls.

Town Councilor Vinnie Piccirilli was pleased at the outcome, sharing the fact that only one parent attended last year’s school budget meeting.

The School Committee is requesting a budget increase of 16.8 percent, or $6.5 million. Town Manager Michael Driscoll recommended an increase of $2.3 million.

A full-needs budget, according to school officials would total out to $46.5 million. Grants and revolving accounts, such as athletics and cable studio, provide roughly $3.6 million of that, according to the School Committee. They currently have $36.6 million, with a needed total of $42.8 million.

Driscoll said a $6.5 million boost in one year is not realistic or sustainable.

Jill Baker, mother of two students in the school system, spoke her peace during the public forum.

"It’s important to realize that we are millions of dollars away from what the Committee asked for," she said. "This isn’t a random request, it’s for things the schools really need."

Breaking down the extended budget into several categories, school officials said increases are spread across mandated staffing additions, goods and services and curriculum.

Mandated staffing additions required for Watertown schools include physical education teachers for both middle and high schools, speech and occupational therapists for both middle and high schools, an Arabic teacher for Watertown High School and a Special Education teacher and social worker for middle school.

An increase in goods and services will cost the school budget an estimated $1.4 million. These goods and services include textbooks for social studies, chemistry, biology and world languages.

Elementary math curriculum, science lab materials, instructional technology and resources for mental health professionals are also among the goods and services the schools hope to provide, according to the Committee’s presentation.

In the past year, there has been a sharp increase in students being diagnosed with mental health issues. Students in Watertown are suffering PTSD because of the marathon bombing.

"It happened in their safe place, their backyard," one Committee member said.

Elevations data management software for English language learners is another important request considering 32 percent, or roughly one third, of Watertown students’ first language is not English, the Committee explained.

"How we will meet these [district determined measures] is a mystery to me," said Dr. Jean Fitzgerald, superintendent of Watertown schools.

Special Education projected expenses for Fiscal 2015 are $17.5 million, according to the Committee.

"Special Education costs are out of control," said Councilor Aaron Dushku.

School Committee Chairwoman Eileen Hsu-Balzer said most of the Comprehensive Plan doesn’t touch base on schools – and she read all 220 pages.

Page 2 of 3 - She said the only place schools are mentioned is in the economic development section, goal four: align education and training opportunities.

Classes are too large, and teachers are spread too thinly to be able to provide one-on-one assistance with the students. Children then associate that subject with failure, she said.

"Like tooth decay or a leaky roof, this is not a problem that will fix itself," Hsu-Balzer said.

Hsu-Balzer recognizes that this is a step, but not a final step, she said.

"Neighbors, friends, relatives, customers, coworkers, citizens – we are you," she said to the Council.

The Councilors had varying opinions of the presentation, but most agreed it was not executed clearly enough.

Town Council Vice President Steve Corbett said he couldn’t support the proposal.

"It’s not remotely realistic," he said.

The fundamental problem with the proposal is that there was virtually no information given on the spending of last fiscal year’s budget, he said.

Councilor Angie Kounelis said she has seen too many versions of the presentation. She hopes that material will be presented to the Councilors in a fashion that they can understand.

Kounelis said she pledged to the citizens of Watertown that she would do the best she could for them.

"I cannot spend tax payers’ dollars looking at this document, because I don’t know what [that money] is going for," she said.

Piccirilli said he was disappointed that there wasn’t more of a "breakdown" provided for the Town Councilors.

Kounelis suggested a third party audit, "Where has all of this money been going to?"

She said the Councilors aren’t micromanaging, however, "We need to be aware," she said. "The residents need to be aware."

Dushku said he strongly favors a third party audit as well.

Councilor Tony Palomba went to bat for the Committee.

"You did a beautiful job on this one," he said.

Palomba said he has read more about budgets in the past three months than ever before, and thanked Watertown Strong Schools for all of their hard work. He gave a quick speech on priorities, saying for the Committee, education is number one. For him, making education his number one priority is something he wants to do.

"Priorities get a little bumpy, and I think it’s time the school system gets a little bump," Palomba said.

Town Council President Mark Sideris said Watertown residents should be pleased, as a community that a group of parents came together to raise awareness about school needs.

Councilor Ken Woodland commended the awareness that has been spread about the issue, noting that Rep. Jon Hecht was in the crowd.

Page 3 of 3 - Sideris wrapped up the meeting with an attempt to join forces among both the Committee and Council.

"We’re not going to fix [these issues] in one Fiscal year…Stop pointing fingers – we need to work together," he said.